Tabulating machine



March 14, 1939. c. D. LAKE ET AL TABULATING MACHINE Filed Oct. 11, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet l FIG.1.

f INJYpEN ATTORNEY March 14, 1939. c. D. LAKE ET AL TABULATING MACHINE Filed Oct. 11, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 NVENTORS div .4? y

.AT'TORNEY March 14, 1939. c. D. LAKE ET AL TABULAT ING MACHINE Filed Oct. 11, 1935 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 l P E fl aiz ddv l A'TToRNEY March 14, c D LAKE E AL I TABULATING MACHINE Filed Oct. 11, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 lwE TORS ,a/

' ATTORNEY March 1939. c. D LAKE ET AL I 2,150,227

TABULATING MACHINE Filed Oct. 11, 1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 I M M 66 (4 C'IUTC /lfVER KIYOC/(OFF I Patented Mar. 14, I939 PATENT OFFICE TABUIATING MACHINE Clair D. Lake, Binghamton, and Wesley mm, Union Center, N. Y., assignors to International Business Machi nes Corporation, New York,

N. Y., a corporation of New York Application October 11,4935, Serial No. 44,554

8 Claims. (Ci. 235-6113) This invention relates to tabulating machines and more particularly to the accumulating mechanism of such machines. c

The invention relates more particularly to the simplification of accumulating mechanisms in which the several denominational orders are separate and independent units which may be separately placed in the machine for separate operation. These units are generally built on plates .arranged for slidable insertion and it is customary to place two denominational orders on a plate. Machines of this type are shown in "Patents Nos. 1,909,549 and 1,914,285, granted May 16, 1933 and- June 13, 1933, respectively, to J. R. Peirce.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a greatly simplified accumulator unit construction to the end that greater operating speed may be attained. A further object of the invention is to provide an improved clutching mechanism for such type of unit.

A still further object of the invention is to provide improved locking devices for insuring embodying the invention or from an inspection of the accompanying drawings; and the invention also constitutes certain new and useful features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

5 In the drawings:

Figfl is a cross-section of atabulati-ng machine, showing the location of .the improved ac.- cumulating unit. 1

Fig. 2 is a view of one order of the accumulator.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a cross section taken substantially along lines 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is'an outside view of the mechanism, looking in the same direction as Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a detail view of certain parts in normal position.

Fig. '1 is a similar view, with the parts in op erative position, showing the locking arrangement.

Fig. 8 is an exploded view of the separate elements. A I

Fig. 9 is a view showing parts in Fig. 2 in operative position.

Fig. 9a is an end view of the carry contact op- 55 erating lever as viewed from the left in Fig. 10.

Fig. 9b is a sectional view of the carry contact operating lever in its operated position.

Fig. 10 is a view showing the operation of the tens carry mechanism.

Fig. 11 is a further view of the carry mechanism.

Fig. 12 is a detail showing a modified form of carry controlling mechanism.

Fig. 13 is a detail taken on liens 13-43 of Fig. 12.

Fig. 14 is a chart showing the timing of certain of the critical parts of the device.

The type of tabulating machine to which the invention is applied is shown generally in Fig. 1 and may be similar to the machine shown in the copending application of A. W. Mills, Serial No.

634,454, filed September 23, 1932, and the simpliiied and improved accumulating unit of the present invention maybe readily substituted for that disclosed in said application.

Referring to Fig. 1, the main drive shaft I0 is suitably driven from a motor (notshown) and through gearing designated ll drives shaft I2 which has bevelv-gear connection with a vertical shaft l3. This shaft, in turn, has bevel-gear connection with horizontal shafts ll which make one revolutionper cycle of themachine. A clutch mechanism generally designated [5 controlled by a clutch magnet It causes connection of shaft l1 to the main shaft i0 through the gearing designated Hi. This shaft carries the cams which operate the printing section of the tabulator in which type bars l9 are reciprocated past a platen 20 and may be interrupted at differential times during their upward movement by stop pawis 2| "tripped under the control of print magnets 22.

After all the type bars have been positioned, printing hammers 23 are tripped to take an impression.

The shafts ll carry gears 24 which are in constant rotation. Meshing with each gear 24 is a gear 25 (see Figs. 2 and 3) which is freely mounted on a stud 26 secured in a plate 21. The plate 21 carries two gears 25 to provide for two denominational orders of an accumulating unit. As shown in Fig. -1, the plate 21 is horizontally slidable, with its gears 25, away from the gear 24 and in this manner the plate 21 with the mechanism mounted thereon may be removed from the machine for repair or replacement.

As viewed in Fig. 4, the gear 25 has integral therewith a driving ratchet 28 (see also Fig. 8).

The gear and ratchet are supported on a ball bearing 29 carried by the stud 28. It is thus seen that the gear 25 and ratchet 23are in constant rotation.

Also mounted on stud 26 and supported on a ball bearing 33 is a collar 3| which has rigidly secured thereto an accumulating disk 32. The collar 3| also carries a ratchet 33 which is mounted for rotation upon the sleeve. The disk 32 carries a clutch pawl 34 which is pivoted to the disk at 35. As viewed in Figs. 4 and 5, the pawl 34 lies in the plane of driving ratchet 23 and the ratchet 33 lies between the pawl 34 and its supporting disk 32. The ratchet 33 is provided with an opening 36 through which the spacing sleeve 31 (see Fig. 8) and its'supporting pin extend. A spring 33 connected to the upper end of the pawl 34 has connection with a pin 33 carried by the disk 32. This pin also extends through a suitable opening in the ratchet 33 (see Fig. 5). Secured on pawl 34 is a pin 43 which engages a camming surface 4| in the ratchet 33. The relationship of the parts is shown in Fig. 6 where the pawl 34 is normally held out of engagement with the ratchet 23 due to the action of camming surface 4| against the pin 43. If the ratchet 33 is permitted to move counterclockwise with respect to the pivot point of pawl 34, the camming surface 4| will move away from the pin 43 and will permit the spring 33 of the pawl to rock the latter into engagement with the ratchet 23 so that the parts assume the positions shown in Fig. 7.

The accumulating disk 32 is normally held by a detenting arm 42 which is normally urged in a counterclockwise direction by its spring 43. With the disk 32 thus restrained against movement, the tension of spring 33 (see Fig. 6) tends to causethe pin 43 to act against the camming surface and urge the ratchet 33 in a counterclockwise direction. The ratchet 33 is provided with teeth 3311 which may be engaged by a latching extension 44 of a lever 43, as'in Fig. 2.

If the extension 44 is raised out of engagement with the tooth 33a, the ratchet 33 may then The initial elevation of the extension 44 to permit clutching of the accumulating disk is controlled by a pair of magnets 45, which upon energization attract armature 46 pivoted at 41 and rock lever 43 clockwise. A second pair of magnets 43 is provided which also act on the armature 46 to cause the rocking of lever 43 in a counterclockwise direction. The lever is provided with a toggle mechanism for maintaining the lever in either position. This toggle comprises a lever 53 pivoted at 5| to the plate 21 and a hairpin spring 52 whose one end is secured to the extremity of lever 53 and the other end of the spring is secured to a pin 53 on the lever 43. Lever 53 also has pin and slot connection with the lever 43 at 54. Thus as the arm 43 is rocked clockwise under control of the magnet 45, the pin and slot connection 54 will cause the lever 53 to rock clockwise, throwing the toggle 53, 52 across dead center to the position shown in Fig. 9, in which position the parts will be held by the spring 52 until the lever 43 is rocked back to its initial position.

This return rocking of the arm may be effected by the magnet 43 or it may be mechanically brought about through the counterclockwise rocking of the member 55 which is pivoted at 56 and has a lateral extension 51 extending above the end of lever 43. The member 55 has its depending arm lying in the path of pins 53 which are carried by the driving gear 24. As the pins pass the end of the member, the latter is rocked counterclockwise and through its extension '51 will depress the end of the arm 43 to cause disengagement of the clutching instrumentalities. It will thus be seen that the accumulating disk 32 maybe clutched to the driving ratchet when the magnet 45' is energized and de-clutching will take place upon the energization of magnet 43 or under the mechanical action of either of the pins 53 of the gear 24.

Referring now toFigs. 6 and 7, the pawl 34 is provided with a tail 34a. which lies in the path of a pin 53 which is carried by the ratchet 33 (see also Fig. 5). The cooperation of tail 34a and pin 53 provides for locking the elements in their various positions to prevent the effects of inertia when the device is operated at high speed.

against counterclockwise rotation so that any tendency for the pawl 34 and, of course, its supporting disk 32, to rotate in that direction will be prevented by the engagement of pin 43 with the camming surface 4|. If the disk 32, however, tends to rotate clockwise, such movement will cause the pin 53 to act on tail 34a and cause the pawl 34 to engage the ratchet 23. If the ma- .chine is in operation with ratchet 23 rotating,

the pawl 34 'will be forced back to its normal position.

The disk 32 carries an arm 63 (see Figs. 10 and 11) which controls the positioning of the usual carry contacts 6| and 62. The arrangement is such that while the accumulator disk 32 registers 9, arm 63 will be in engagement with a lever 33 pivoted on a stud 64 and will hold the lever in the position shown in Fig. 11 to maintain contacts 6| closed as long as the disk registers 9. When the disk passes from "9 to 0; the arm 63 will engage a member 65 and will rock the latter from the position of Fig. 9 to that of Fig. 10. The member 65 is maintained in either of its positions by virtue of the engagement of one of its fiat surfaces with the upper blade of the contacts 62. The member 65, when rocked to the position of Fig- 10, will cause closure of contact 62 and this position of the parts is ,maintained until a pin 66 carried by the gear 24 engages an arm of the member 65 and rocks it back to the position of Fig. 2.

The member 65 is pivoted on the stud 64, which, as explained, also carries the lever 63. Member 65 is formed of two parts held together through a spring v33 (Figs. 9a and 9b). This construction is merely for purposes of safety and is not member occupies the position as in Fig. 9 wherecarry contacts is in engagement with the surface 82 0f the member to hold it in this position. As the arm 88 rotates counterclockwise to advance from the'position' it occupies in Fig. 9, it will bear against corner 8i and rock the member 88 from the position of Fig. 9 to that shown in Figs. 9b and 10. In this position the uppermost contact blade will bear against the surface 88 of member 8! and will'serve to hold the mem-, her in this position until it is again rocked back to normal position by the pin 88 in gear 24. It will be observed that the surfaces 92 and 93 are at different distances from the center of rotation of the stud 84 and they will thus serve to move the uppermost contact blade from contact opening to contact closing position while the contact blade inturn acts on the twosurfaces to serve as an impositive detent for the member.

The construction and operation of the accumulating unit has been described in 'detail and a brief explanation will now be given to indicate the manner in which the parts are timed in relation to the rest of the machine.

Referring to Fig. 14, the line indicated at 81 represents the time at which circuits are completed to the magnet I! in response to the analysis of perforations in the index point positions of ,record cards as the latter pass through the machine. If a "9 is to be added, the circuit to the magnet 45 is completed at the "9 time and disk 82 is rotated through nine steps at which time the leading pin 58 will cause disengagement of the clutch. If the magnet 45 hadbeen energ'ized in response to a "3", the clutch engagement would have taken place at the 3" time and been disengaged by the leading pin I58 after three steps of movement. It is thus seen that the time of engagement is variable and the knock-out or disengaging time occurs at a fixed point in the cycle. In the interval between the two pins 58. carry operations take place under control of the contacts 8| and 82 to add a unit into appropriate orders. The time of -comple-. tion of this carry-circuit is indicated at C on line 81 which is one point before the second pin ll effects clutch disengagement.

When the unit is employed for subtracting operations, the magnet 45 is energized at the beginning of the cycle through timing devices in the machine so that the disk commences rotation at the beginning of the cycle. When a perforation is sensed in a record card, the magnet 48 is energized tg cause disengagement. Thus. if a' 3"is sensed, disengigement will take place after six steps of movement, thus adding the nines complement to the accumulating unit.

m total printing purposes, the disk :9 is given a complete revolution by energizing magnet 45 at the beginning of the cycle and permitting the pin 88 to knock it out at the end of the cycle. Depending upon the initial location of arm 60, member I! will be engaged thereby to close contacts I at some time during the cycle and a circuit to the printing magnets 22 of Fig. 1 will be completed at a timecorresponding to the value of the amount standing on the disk. The various circuits and their operating devices do not form part of the present invention-and may be the same as those shown and described in the application of Mills referred to above, and further explanation is not necessary.

. In slidingthe plates 21 into position, the engaging gear 25 may occupy any position and no definite setting of the unit is necessary before it is moved into engagement with the driving gear 24. This ease of assembly is brought about because of the fact that the knock-out pins 58 are carried by the gear 24 and their timing is accordingly fixed as is also the timing of the carry restoring pin 86. In previous accumulating units designed for use with this type of tabiilating machine, the knock-out and carry mechanisms have been incorporated in the unit itself and it has been necessary to carefully adjust the elements mounted in the unit to obtain proper correlation of the parts; With the present arrangement no such setting up is necessary as the timing is a function of the drive gear 24.

In Fig. 12 is shown a modified form of the carry circuit controlling devices which comprises a lever 80 pivoted,at 8i and spring connected to a lever 82. The lever 80 carries a brush 83 whose strands straddle a wedge-shaped block 84 of insulating material in which are embedded pairs of contact segments 85 and 86 (see also Fig. 13).

The brush normally occupies a neutral position as shown in Fig. l2. While the accumulating disk 82 registers "9, the arm 60a engages a finger 81 of the lever 80 and holds the brush 83 in position to engage both segments 85 and form an electrical connection therebetween. As the disk 82 passes from "9 to 0, the lever 80 is further depressed and brush 83 straddles the-segments 88. The engagement and straddling of the block 84 by the brushes 83 provides sufficient frictional engagement to maintain the lever 80 in any of its three positions. At the end of the cycle, the pin 88 will engage arm 82 to restore the brush to its neutral or initial position.

While there has been shown and described and pointed outv the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a single modification, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation maybe made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invendirection to cause clutching means for thereafter said-wheel and engaging said pawl to hold the latter out of engagement with said driving 2 ratchet, means called into action at differential times, and with the wheel in any of its rotative positions for causing said disk to release said pawl for engagement with said driving ratchet, and means for'causing said disk to disengage the pawl from the ratchet at a fixed time in the operation of the machine whereby said wheel will be advanced from its initial rotative position an amount determined by the differential time of engagement of the pawl and ratchet.

3. In an accumulating unit for an accounting machine having an accumulating wheel which is to. be advanced to any of a plurality of rotative positions to represent different amounts, including in combination, differential advancing mechanism for said wheel, said mechanism comprising a continuously driven driving ratchet, a pawl carried by said wheel, a disk coaxial with said wheel and engaging said pawl to hold the latter out of engagement with said driving ratchet, means for normally holding the wheel and disk against rotation in any one of the rotative positions of the wheel, means called into action at difierential times and with the wheel in any of its rotative positions for efl'ecting relative rotation of said wheel and disk, whereupon said pawl will engage said ratchet to rotate the wheel, and means for causing said disk to disengage the pawl from the ratchet at a fixed time in the operation of the machine whereby said wheel will be advanced from its initial rotative position an amount determined by the differential time of engagement of the pawl and ratchet.

4. In an accumulating unit for an accounting machine having an accumulating wheel which is to be advanced to any of a plurality of rotative positions to represent different amounts, includ-.

nig in combination, differential advancing mechanism for said wheel, said mechanism comprising a continuously driven driving ratchet, a pawl carried by said wheel, a disk coaxial with said wheel and having a camming surface engaging said pawl to holdthe latter out of engagement with said driving ratchet, means for normally holding the wheel and disk against rotation in any one of the rotative positions of the wheel, means called into action at differential times with the wheel in any-of its rotative positions, and including said camming surface for effecting relative rotation of said wheel and disk whereupon said pawl will engage said ratchet to rotate the wheel, and means for causing said disk to dis engage the pawl from the ratchet at a fixed time in the operation of the machine whereby said wheel will be advanced from its initial rotative position an amount determined by. the diiferential time of engagement of the pawl and ratchet.

5. In an accumulating unit for an accounting machine having an accumulating wheel which is to be advanced to any of a plurality of rotative positions to represent different amounts, including in combination, differential advancing mechanism for said wheel, said mechanism comprising a continuously driven driving ratchet, a

pawl carried by said wheel, a disk co-axial with said wheel and having a .camming surface engaging said pawl to holdthe latter out of engagement with said driving ratchet, means for normally holding the wheel and disk against rotation in any one of the rotative positions of the wheel, means for releasing said holding means at differential times with the wheel in any of its rotative positions, means effective upon said release for advancing said disk to permit the pawl to engage the ratchet, whereupon said pawl will drive the disk therewith, and means for interrupting the rotation of the disk at a fixed time in the operation of the machine whereupon said cammlng surface will cause disengagement of the pawl and ratchet and said wheel will be advanced an amount determined by the diii'erential time of engagement of the pawl and ratchet.

6. In an accumulating unit for an accounting machine having an accumulating wheel which is to be advanced to any of a plurality of rotative positions to represent different amounts, including in combination, difierential advancing mechanism for said wheel, said mechanism comprising a continuously driven driving ratchet, a pawl pivoted to said wheel for engagement with said ratchet, a spring connected between the pawl and wheel, a disk co-axial with said wheel having a cammlng surface, a pin in said pawl engaging said cammlng surface and controlled thereby,

when the wheel is in any of its rotative positions for holding the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet, means called into action at difierential times with the wheel in any of its rotative positions for enabling said spring to move the cammlng surface out of engagement with the pin so the pawl can engage said ratchet, and means for interrupting the rotation of the disk at a fixed time in the operation of the machine where-, upon its cammlng surface will engage said pin to disengage the pawl from the ratchet and said wheel will be advanced an amount determined by the diflerential time of engagement of the pawl and ratchet.

7. The invention set forth in claim 2 in which locking means is provided and rendered operative when said pawl and ratchet are engaged, for locking the same in engagement during the rotation of the accumulating wheel.

8. The invention set forth in claim 2 in which locking means carried by the accumulating wheel is provided and rendered operative when said pawl and ratchet are engaged, for locking the same in engagement during the rotation of the accumulating wheel.

CLAIR D. LAKE. WESLEY PFAFF. 

